February 21,2005- Okay, sorry it took such a long time to write this chapter, but a lot of stuff kept me busy. And due to this I may only get to update on the weekends. But I might get probition from my parents next week due to grades... Anyway on with the thank yous!
sakura-sweeti- Thank you so much! I am glad you like the last chapter! please keep reviewing!
Sethiel-Undomiel- I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!
xxXGoddessXofXdeadXloveXxx- I'm glad you liked it! I'm sorry I had to cut the sex scene short, but I got to stay true to the rating! Please keep reviewing!
Mercia Constantine- Thanks for your review! Is Erik really out of character? I don't think we do. But It's kind of hard to tell since we never see him get really romantic with Christine or any woman at all! But I'm glad you still like the story anyway! Please keep reviewing.
Leah Day- Hey there! haven't heard from you in a long time! I guess it is a bit rushed but I just go with the flow when the ideas come to my head. I'll try to really stretch it out. Please keep reviewing!
Phantom Ange- I'm glad that you liked my sex scene, it was hard to write and keep it under the rating. I'm glad you liked Erik not killing someone just so he could take the part. By the way, I'm still waiting for a new chapter for your story, my dear! ;) Please keep reviewing!
Countess Vladislaus Dragu- I'm glad you like the story! Please keep reviewing!
Chapter 12
The two young lovers went down into Erik's lair and prepared the table. Emily grabbed two glasses and put them on the table. He looked at them and grabbed them putting them back telling her, "Now my dear, this is a celebration! Bring out the wine glasses!" He grabbed the wine glasses and set them on the table. He randomly bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "I'll be right back, I have to go get something." He disappeared out of the room only to return a few moments later with a bottle of champagne. Emily could only grin as he winked at her and popped the top off of the champagne. He poured her a glass and gave it to her. She took it and waited for him to serve himself a glass. When he finished pouring his glass, he raised his up and smiled, " To L'Ange. To us." She smiled as they clicked their glasses together,
"I'll drink to that." They sipped on their drinks and began to chat about anything they could think of. Emily then noticed that she was the only one who was talking for a long period of time. She looked at Erik who had his hands on his face. She put her hand on his shoulder, "Erik?" He looked up at her with his beautiful eyes in surprise. He looked like he had been lost in thought. She could only look at him with questions in her eyes. She put her hand on his forehead,
"Are you sick, my love?" He shook his head slowly,
"No dearest. I am just tired." She grabbed his hand and lead him to his bed. She helped him take off his coat and tucked him in,
"I want you to rest. I'll be going into town and doing some errands. I'll be back before the sun goes down." Erik began to get up,
"I want to go with you." She pushed him gently back on the bed,
"No, Erik. You look extremely tired. Now I want you to get some rest." She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips, "I love you." She whispered Erik's mouth parted slightly as sleep began to claim him,
"I love you too..." She smiled at him and left him there. She returned to her room and grabbed her emerald cloak and bag of money. She turned around to look at herself in the mirror, and saw that the management had not replaced the old one. She turned away and started heading for the Theater's stables. She waved hello to her coworkers on her way down there. When she got there she saw a rather large man sleeping in a chair. Emily felt rather sorry to wake him, but she had to get to town. She cleared her throat, making the large man shoot up off the chair. His eyes looked frightened for a moment but they softened when he saw that it was only Emily,
"Ah, mademoiselle...how may I help you?" She smiled, "Monsieur, I need to go into town, please." She handed him some of the coins in her bag. He nodded and disappeared into the stalls only to return a few moments with a beautiful black horse. He gave her the reins, "Here you are mademoiselle, may you have a safe journey." She thanked him for his kind words. She got on the horse and clicked her tongue. The horse began to gallop off into the town. When it got there after half an hour, she parked it in front of a small building with a sign that said, Doctor. She stood at the door and sighed. She felt bad about lying to Erik about going to do some "errands" but she had to find out what was wrong with her. She couldn't ignore it anymore, she had to bring peace to this anxiousness. With a deep intake of breath, she opened the door and entered the building. The little building had white walls with lavish paintings giving them life. She saw a young woman sitting at the desk. She smiled when Emily approached her,
"Bonjour Mademoiselle!"
"Bonjour!"
"May I have your name please?" She pulled out a pen and a form to fill out.
"Yes, it's Emily de les Anges." The nurse looked up a her with a mildly shocked face,
"Emily de les Anges? You mean you were in La Gardienne?" Emily nodded slowly as the young woman let out a small gasp, "I went to go see you on opening night! I loved it!"
Emily smiled politely, but she secretly wished that the young woman would hurry up and fill out her form. The young woman seemed to understand her and speedily went through the form. When she finished, she looked up at Emily, "There," she said as she made the final pen stroke on the form, "Mademoiselle de les Anges, if you will sit down over there, I will call you when the doctor is ready to see you." Emily thanked her and went to where she was told to sit. She glanced at the clock, which read a quarter to five. She sat there and looked down at her lap, wishing for the minutes to go by quickly when all of a sudden a familiar surprised voice,
"Emily?" She looked up to see Christine coming at her, with a very big smile on her face. She stood up and Emily threw her arms around the other female, "I've got some wonderful news!" Emily looked at her with a cocked eyebrow,
"Well, what is it?" Christine could only smile at Emily's eagerness. The raven haired woman nudged her gently on the shoulder, "Well, come on, out with it!" She saw tears coming to Christine's eyes,
"I'm pregnant!" Emily's eyes widened, as she gave out a shout of joy and tears came flowing down her face. The two women hugged. When they pulled away from each other, tears still trailing down her face, Emily looked at her, "Does Raoul know?" Christine shook her head,
"He only knew that I was coming to the doctor for a routine check-up. He wanted to go with me, but something came up and he had to attend to that first." Emily could only smile as she exclaimed,
"Oh Christine, you, a mother! Can you just imagine it?" The two women giggled as they wiped their tears away. The mother-to-be looked at Christine,
"And what are you doing here, Emily?" The other young woman's heart stopped. Should she really tell Christine the real reason she was there? After a moment's pause, she decided that she should not worry her; besides, Christine had a lot to stress about with the impending arrival of her first child,
"I'm here for a check out too." The two women laughed at the possibility of Emily coming out of the doctor's office and announcing that she too was pregnant. She put her hands up,
"No, I'm afraid not. I don't think Erik and I are really ready for a child." Christine smiled at her,
"Oh Emily, I'm really happy that you changed Erik, he really needed somebody like you." She reached out and grabbed Emily's hand, "Speaking of having a baby, I want you and Erik to be the baby's godparents." Emily opened her mouth in shock,
"Christine, I- What would Raoul say about Erik being the baby's godfather? I mean, after what happened..." Christine smiled and squeezed her hand,
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that, now what do you think about being a godmother?" Emily smiled and squeezed Christine's hand,
"I would love to." The two women looked at each other as they thought of a small child running around the doctor's office for his or her check up. The nurse who worked at the desk came out and walked over to the two women,
"I am sorry to interrupt, but Mademoiselle de les Anges, the doctor will see you now." Emily looked at Christine anxiously but her hand was given a squeeze as her friend whispered,
"Good luck!" The nurse smiled at her as Emily stood up,
"Right this way, please." She lead her to the back of the building where there was a small room with two chairs in the room and a small bed. The nurse stood at the doorway and said, "I will be back with the doctor shortly." Emily nodded as she meekly whispered,
"Thank you." The young nurse smiled as she closed the door behind her. As Emily sat there by herself a wave of fears swallowed her up. What if there was something seriously wrong with her? What would she do? What would she tell her friends? And Erik? She sighed as she put her face to her hands,
Please God, let everything be okay...
At that moment, the nurse came back with the doctor. He was a tall, willowy man with red hair and freckles on his face, he seemed to be around the age of twenty nine. He wore a pleasant smile as he extended his hand to shake hers,
"Mademoiselle de les Anges, I am Doctor Jean-Phillippe Badeau. Now, what seems to be the problem?" Emily looked at him and then at the nurse,
"Doctor, can I tell you something?" He nodded as he looked at her,
"Of course Mademoiselle." She looked at him,
"But you have to promise that neither you or the nurse will not tell any of my friends, or my boyfriend if they ask you why I was here." The doctor and nurse looked at her curiously. They looked at each other as the mutual question shone in their eyes. Doctor Badeau then looked at her again for another long moment, but he opened his mouth,
"All right, I give you my word that I or Nurse Barret will not tell a single soul."
Emily sighed as she began to tell them about all those times she coughed up blood. She told them that she felt like her lungs were on fire whenever the episodes where about to happen. The doctor looked at her gravely. He then insisted that he do a couple of exams on her. He lead her to the bed and for what seemed like an eternity, he began to do the exams on her. He listened to her lungs, heart told her to cough a couple of times. After three hours the hold her to wait outside. She waited out in the waiting room pacing around frantically. She did not like the looks on Doctor Badeau and Nurse Barret had on their faces. Perhaps they were just listening intently to what she was saying. The nurse came out and looked at her, "Doctor Badeau, will speak to you now." With a deep intake of breath, she walked once more into the room where Nurse Barret walked over to stand next to Doctor Badeau. He told Emily to sit down,
"Mademoiselle, there is no easy way to tell you this..." He took a deep breath, "But I'm afraid that you have Pulmonary Edema. It's a fancy way of saying swelling of the lungs. Basically it's what's causing you to cough up blood." Emily chuckled dryly,
"So, what are you saying?" He looked Nurse Barret and then looked at her,
"Emily," He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, "You're dying." Tears began to stream down her face. He squeezed her shoulder, "I can give you this medicine to ease some of the symptoms." He handed her a bottle with a blue liquid in it, "take a teaspoon when you feel an episode." She nodded,
"What other symptoms will accompany this disease? He sighed,
"Well, there will be profuse sweating, restlessness, anxiety and shortness of breath." She nodded as she stood up,
"Well, thank you for everything doctor. I best be going now." The two of them shook hands as he told her,
"I wish you the best, Mademoiselle. Call me if you need anything." She smiled,
"I will." She turned to Nurse Barret, "There will be a production in about a week called L'Ange. I hope you will come to see her." The Nurse gave her a small, soft smile,
"I'll be there." Emily left them, walking quickly to her horse. She grabbed the reins of her horse. She noticed that it was dark. She then remembered that she promised to have been home before the sunset. She got on the horse and rode off into the night, to the Opera Populaire. She began to sob quietly as the impact of what happened at Doctor Badeau's office sank in. As the horse galloped on, Emily felt a wave of sickness hit her. Her chest tightened as she tried to get in a breath. She felt her eyes roll into the back of her head as she fell of the horse and hit the ground, not moving when her head made contact with the ground. The horse kept on galloping without a rider.
In his lair, Erik sat in one of the chairs with the table set with his finest china and candles that were almost burned down to the candlestick. He blew out the candles and sat at the table, thinking to himself. He knew that it was too good to be true. A woman could never love him along with his hideous face. When she meant going into town for errands she meant... He laughed maniacally to himself. Ah, what a fool he had been! He went to the window to get some air. He saw a horse galloping towards the stables, but what struck him as odd was that there was no rider on it. He saw the large man in charge of the stables run up to the horse and look around in panic. He ran towards the Theater and a few minutes later, he saw Christine, Raoul and the man run towards the horse. The man gestured wildly with his hands and Erik heard Christine scream,
"NO!" She began to cry as she fell into Raoul's arms. Erik's curiosity peaked when he saw Raoul give her a kiss, got on the horse and rode off into the night. Erik ran downstairs and went out the door of the Theater. He saw Christine sitting on the floor, sobbing,
"Christine!" She looked at him, got up and rushed into his arms as she sobbed harder,
"Erik!" She tried to catch her breath,
"It's horrible...Oh God!" he looked at her,
"What's horrible, what is it?" She cried horrible,
"You know that a horse came galloping up to the theater without a rider, right?" Erik nodded,
"Yes." She began to cry harder,
"Well, Monsieur Smith said that he let Emily borrow that horse a couple of hours later..." Erik's heart stopped as his mind cried out,
Oh, my god...
He left Christine alone and ran towards the stables as he grabbed one of the other horses, got on it and rode off into the night to find the woman of his dreams. Madame Giry ran towards Christine, followed by Monsieur André, Monsieur Firmin, Carlotta, Piagani, and Meg. Madame Giry grabbed her shoulders, "Child what is wrong?"
"Emily is missing, the horse Monsieur Smith's horse came back with no rider on it." A gasp spread through the group. Then everyone grabbed each other's hands and did something they always did when they were about to go on stage and perform or when one of their family members, meaning the cast, was sick or was going through a hard ordeal. They prayed.
A/N: So, what did you think? I hoped you really liked it since it took me an unusually long time to write it! Please send me reviews, they are what keep me going! And what is going to happen next chapter? Will Erik and Raoul find Emily? Will Emily be ok? You'll just have to read the next chapter, won't you?